Heaven on Earth
by Angel-lace
Summary: It started out to be a regular mission the regular rescue the girl kind of mission but it ended in so much more. After rescuing her, Angel and the gang, along with an unexpected visitor end up riding the roller coaster called Life when they are thrown in
1. Nightly Meetings

**Chapter One**

**Nightly Meetings**

Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she pumped her legs harder, pushing herself to her maximum limit. Pleading screams escaped from parted lips as she glanced over her shoulder. Through heaven's impeccably timed downpour, she could see the hideous creatures bearing down on her as she turned down an alleyway, sliding on a puddle and falling forward. Curling herself into a tight ball as she fell, she rolled out of the tumble and was on her feet in an instant, racing for her dear life. Another fleeting peek over her shoulder, another blood curling scream.

_Oh, God! Please! Somebody help me! Please!_

She attempted another scream but a sudden firm hand over her mouth prevented it as a strong arm around her waist dragged her into a broken doorframe. She cried out in pure terror into the hand that was clamped tightly over her lips.

_Oh, God! Oh, God! I'm going to die! I'm going to die right here, right now!_

"It's alright. You're safe," the voice that spoke to her was deep and soothing, barely more than a whisper against her ear. She squirmed some more, every muscle in her body tense. "You can relax now."

_Easy for you to say, buddy!_

"I'm going to let go now. Do try and not run, will you," the voice asked gently. It was almost as if her captor was trying to warn her of the monstrous beasts that hunted her. As if she needed to be warned. "I'm mean it, do try and not run. It really is too dangerous out there for one of your sort, if you know what I mean."

_You're telling me! Who do you think you are!_

As soon as his hands released her, she pushed herself harshly away from him and whirled around to face her captor… or perhaps the man who rescued her, but who was counting. In the darkness she could make out the glasses that settled crookedly on the bridge of his nose and the way the blue eyes behind them considered her with a calming regard. Brown hair was matted to his forehead, sending small streams of water down his cheeks and temples. Thin lips were set in a tiny smile that worked well in reassuring her. He was there to keep her safe, not to hurt her.

_The face of an intellectual… that's what kind of face he has…_

"Who are you?" she demanded faintly in a shaky voice.

"I'm Wesley—" as the word began to cross his lips, massive hands grabbed the collar of his soaked shirt. The hairy arms dragged him over the threshold of the doorway and far from anywhere he might be able to protect her. While she shouted incessantly for the man to save himself, the creature that had seized Wesley threw the poor Englishman across the alleyway and through the window of an abandoned factory. The sound of his own screaming was cut of the instant he hit the glass, the shattering of the glass louder than his own voice.

_Oh, God! He's dead! He's dead! Oh, God! God is he dead!_

Acting purely on instinct and lost to crazed visions playing in her head, she screamed at the top of her lungs in between gulping for air and sobbing into the palms of her hands.

* * *

In the alleyway a young man bravely did battle with the hideous creatures he had seen chasing the young woman down the street. Unfortunately these creatures were actually demons from Hell… and unfortunately… he was not really winning per se, either. It would have been really nice if he was but everything that night was stacked against him: it was raining buckets every second, it was darker than any dark he had ever experienced in his life, and the demons were just about as black as the night sky was so he could barely see them let alone see past the end of his own nose.

And, boy, did it piss him off.

He grabbed the nearest of the three demons by the forearms and hoisted him into the air just as he saw Demon Number Two grab Wesley from a doorway and fling him through the window of an abandoned building. The shattering of glass was mixed with the ungodly and unbearable sounds of a female shrieking. He cringed despite himself. You would think after years of this kind of business that he would be used to hearing people scream but, God, did this woman have a loud set of vocal cords stored in her throat.

And, boy, did he really want to tear them out right about now despite the fact that she was human.

Beside him, a well-built black man fought with downed vigor seeing as how Demon Number Three was getting the better of him. His heavy orange sweatshirt and thick jeans clung to him, restricting his movement and giving his demon opponent a very high and very unwanted advantage. He fought with a large axe in his hands, the weapon bloodied from a few lucky strikes that only managed to anger his opponent more.

"Gunn!" the young man shouted.

"Yo!" the black man hollered back to his fighting companion. He jumped back just in time to resist being knocked upside the head with several curled claws.

"Get Wesley and get the hell out of here!" his fighting companion ordered in a firm, non-negotiable voice. He rescued Gunn from Demon Number Three by sending the horrid beast soaring through the air and into a dumpster. "Go back to the hotel! I'll get the girl!"

"Man, you always get the girl!" Gunn complained in his free moment, his axe dropping to his side. "For once _I'd _like to get the girl!"

"Gunn!" his friend snarled deeply.

"You're the boss," Gunn lightly saluted him with the handle of the axe before setting off in a fast run around the building to fetch Wesley. With Gunn gone, the young man was left alone to fight the three demons, one of which was semi-unconscious and inside a dumpster. It couldn't be _that _hard, could it? They were _only_ demons after all.

"Look out!" the female voice shouted at him. He whirled around on his heels, his eyes widening slightly in shock…

* * *

She had run out of the doorway to see the black man running around the building and abandoning his friend to take on the three monsters that had chased her to this particular alleyway. She thought it odd that a friend would abandon a friend in such a situation but she did not have much time to think about it. The young man had his back turned and would not see one of the demons lunging toward him unless she intervened… something she _really, really_ didn't want to do.

"Look out!" she shouted as she grabbed the nearest object she could put her hands on: a metal baseball bat that some kid must have left lying against a garbage can. It was still in perfect condition so she thought that maybe he just forgot it there. She didn't think about what she would have to do because she knew that if she did, she would very quickly talk herself out of it. She slammed the fat end of the baseball bat as hard as she could into the skull of the monster. Gray matter and splattered over the young man just as he turned to she what she was yelling about. The creature howled in pain for only a moment and was dead before it crumpled to the ground. Its two cohorts howled for the moment following and fled into the night silently. The two humans could have only guessed where they went.

The young man stared at her in mild surprise while she dropped the bat heavily to the ground. She took that long, awkward moment of silence to take in his entire being.

The most gentle and deepest drown eyes she had ever seen set off a contrast to what she suspected to be a smooth, pale face. Short brown hair stuck out in odd places, the heaven's waters weighing it down. He wore simple black jeans and black boots that squeaked slightly as he shifted his weight. His duster mostly covered a black collared shirt that buttoned down his broad chest. A shadow of a smile danced on his lips as he made small, tentative steps toward her. Despite the blood and grime covering him and despite the small cuts that appeared everywhere on any exposed flesh through torn clothes, he was perhaps the most beautiful man she had ever laid eyes on.

_What an angel-like face… how… how… comforting?_

"It's okay," he whispered. His sensual voice sent chills down her spine… or perhaps it was the fact that she was soaked to the bone that sent waves of chills down her spine. She shivered endlessly as he moved closer to her. "My name is Angel. I'm here to help. It's okay now, you're safe."

"Safe…" the words sounded like paradise as they passed through her lips.

"That's right," he murmured softly, one hand out as he took slow steps to her. "You're safe. As long as I'm here, I'll protect you. Those things, they can't hurt you anymore. I won't let them hurt you anymore."

"Safe…" she repeated in a hoarse voice, her heart jumping to her throat and her eyes welling, though she knew he couldn't tell through all the rain. At that moment she realized just how exhausted she was and let the darkness take hold of her. The last thing she remembered were his strong arms that caught her around the waist as he cradled her gently against his chest, holding her close and giving her sanction.


	2. Ella

**Chapter Two**

**Ella**

Cordelia Chase paced anxiously across the floor of the hotel they now called "home base". Sporting pale pajama pants and a heavy white sweater, she was used to being awake at all hours of the night. Who needed sleep when she had her boss to keep her up and unwanted, painful, pain-in-the-ass visions that attacked her unexpectedly at other times? At least she would have had good company if it weren't for the horrible tension that lingered in the air while they waited for Angel to come back.

Sprawled out on a comfortable couch, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce nursed what felt like a cracked skull with a heavy bag of ice. Even as an intellectual, he refused to think at the moment, seeing as how even his brain hurt too much to conceive an intelligent thought. Every muscle in his body screamed out in horrible pain after being hurled through a second story window and then falling through rotten floors to the basement where he had landed tactfully on old sewing machines. It was a miracle that he managed to limp away with no more than a sprained ankle and so many cuts that he stopped counting after thirty… that and he was lucky enough to walk away at all… after a fall like the one he had, he should have been dead. To him, he felt like a king and he was pretty damn proud of it.

Kneeling by his side with ointment for his wounds was Winifred "Fred" Burkle. A thin young woman with long brown locks extending down to her small bosom and powerful hazel eyes Fred was a remarkable lady. She had a mind that rivaled even Wesley's and her mind worked fast, which made her even more of an asset than she realized. She wore simple jeans, brown shoes, and a purple long-sleeved shirt that hugged her tiny frame. She constantly stared up at Wesley, her eyes filled with concern that somehow actually made the poor Englishman feel guilty for allowing himself to be thrown through a second floor window in the first place.

Charles Gunn was the only member missing from the gang. He had left twenty minutes ago to run to his place to put on decent clothing that was dry and didn't cling to him and didn't make him cold. From another room somewhere in the hotel, they could hear Lorne singing peacefully to himself, the tension affecting him in no way. Lorne was a loveable, green-skinned, red horned, red-eyed demon with a passion for fashion, music, and the high life of his own nightclub.

At that moment he walked in, whistling to himself and snapping in fingers to what sounded somewhat like jazz.

"Oh, come on, people," he told them airily. "Lighten up. Angel-face will come through like he always does and in one piece with the girl safe and s—"

The hotel entrance banged open as Angel kicked it in. He rushed in with the unconscious girl in his arms. Although she seemed to be fine except for the unconscious part, he was far from better off.

"Oh, God, Angel!" Fred exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Wesley attempted to move but thought better of it and remained regretfully where he was. "You're hurt. Terribly!"

"Not now, Fred," Angel groaned. "Upstairs. Room. Woman!"

"Is she too heavy?" Cordelia questioned curiously, all anger and worry melting away for a small moment. "Because if she is, Angel. I thought you were stronger than that. Either that, or she's just really weighs _a lot_. I'm going to have to teach her a thing or two about weight loss programs. I mean how is anyone supposed to rescue her and sweep her off her feet if she weighs a ton."

"Cordelia," Wesley started, taking a moment to wince in pain as he sat up slightly. "The girl weighs hardly anything. She has a very thin waist. She can't weigh more than a hundred, a hundred and ten pounds at the most."

"Oh," she drawled, a look of confusion on her face as she began to follow Angel up the stairs and to an empty room. Being they used the hotel purely for the use of a place to call "home" for their business, nearly every room was empty except for a few, like the ones Angel, Fred, Lorne, and Wesley used. Only Cordelia and Gunn had their own living quarters outside the hotel. "Then why is she too heavy for you?"

"I never said she was too heavy, Cordy," Angel replied quietly. He gently laid the young woman down of the covers of a bed, carefully laying her head on a pillow. He went to the door, leaning on it heavily while giving out orders. "Fred, go to my room and find something- anything- for her to wear: um… a big shirt and sweatpants should do fine. Also, grab some towels so she can be dried off."

Fred nodded slowly, rushing off to get what he needed.

"Oh, and Fred?" she stopped and looked up at him. He looked tired, his mouth drawn in a thin line. "Bring some extra towels and a first aid kit."

"Is she injured?" Wesley asked in a concern tone.

"No!" it sounded almost as if Angel was actually whining. "For me, Wes, for me!"

Finally, after shutting himself inside the room alone with the young woman half an hour earlier, Angel appeared in the doorway of the room and closed the door silently behind him. He smiled some as he saw everyone gathered in the lobby of the hotel, waiting impatiently to hear what he had to say.

"She's fine," he assured them as he came down the stairs, taking each step gingerly and fully aware of every place that his body hurt. "She's asleep now. She woke up for a moment but she couldn't comprehend anything. I think she's going to be fine, maybe a bit shocked when she wakes up."

"Do we know anything about her?" Gunn asked as he thrummed his fingers loudly on the marble top of the front desk. "Like name, where she comes from, age, hair color?"

"Yeah, and can she pay?" Cordy pointed out, her eyes wide. Suddenly, her brows knit together tightly and she turned her head slightly to Charles. "Why do we want to know her hair color?"

"Because—"

"Oh, _I know_," she nodded her brunette head with sudden understanding. "You want to know if she dyes her hair. Wow, Gunn, I didn't know you were interested in that stuff."

"I'm not, supermama," he rolled his eyes, folding his arms across his muscled chest. "I said it to emphasize that we so far know squat on this chick."

"We know she can swing a baseball bat like a pro," Angel offered while he sat down in a chair. Fred rushed over to him, helping take off his shirt and beginning to attend to his wounds. The poor girl looked as if she hadn't slept in forty-eight hours and appeared worried beyond any control.

_That's our Fred_, Angel thought to himself with a gentle smile.

"Why do you say that?" Wesley inquired with genuine interest.

"Because, she had a homerun crushing the skull of one of those demons. Almost could say she saved my life," he offered.

"The girl's a wonderchick," Gunn nodded his head with much approval, a crooked smile on his lips.

"More than that," Lorne agreed enthusiastically. "So much more than that. I wonder if she can sing."

"But it's not like you need any real saving anyway," Cordy smiled largely. "I mean with you being all-" she clawed her hands and bared her teeth "-girr and all. If you know what I—"

"You _can_ say the word, Cordelia," Angel shook his head in annoyance. "I'm a vampire."

"That's what I meant!" she protested.

"Back to the wonderchick," Gunn changed the topic quickly, knowing Cordy could go on forever. "What do we know?"

"Her name's Ella Winters," their boss informed them. "She has no current address in L.A. that we know of. According to her birthday, which is August 16th, on her driver's license, she is twenty-two years old. And she has blond hair."

"But for all we know it could be dyed," Cordelia pointed out snootily.

"So for all we know, Ella Winters is a mystery," Wesley said.

"Yes, Ella…" Angel started before wincing in silent pain as Fred bandaged a wound on his arm.


	3. Vampire Visitor

**Chapter Three**

**Vampire Visitors**

Angel strolled into the hotel lobby feeling pretty pleased with himself after saving a little boy whose life was threatened by a vampire. The vampire had been dusted, the little boy had been safely led home, and Angel had suffered no more than a little scratch to his collarbone. All in all, with Gunn as his backup seeing as how Wesley was still recovering from his own injuries, the mission had gone pretty much according to plan. The plan, which Angel had come up with himself, was basically divided into three simple but effective steps: find the vampire, dust the vampire, and return the boy to his proper home. Simple but effective.

"Not bad, Angel, man," Gunn slapped his vampire boss on the back with a broad smile on his face. At the front desk in the lobby, Cordelia sifted through a closed case file while Fred and Wesley worked quietly in his office, pouring over several opened books. "At least this time we _actually_ had the _right_ street to work with and our client didn't _almost_ die."

He glared pointedly at Cordy.

"Hey!" the brunette snapped, her eyes narrowing. "Who do you think you are? Anyone could have read the street name wrong! A's and P's can look alike… sometimes…"

"Yeah, and pigs fly," he retorted quickly. "You almost cost wonderchick upstairs her life."

"Hey!" she moved from behind the counter and jabbed a finger in Gunn's chest. "You're not the one who has the visions, are you? No. I do! So don't you go telling me whether pigs can fly or not, you… you—"

"Hey!" Angel yelled in a mild tone. "Children! Stop arguing for a few minutes and let's be quiet for a little bit… or at least mildly quiet."

"That'd be a miracle for supermama over here," Gunn jeered, flinging his entire body backwards onto the couch, nearly missing it but not quite.

"What's that supposed to mean, you… you… you…" she sputtered angrily, her eyes ablaze.

"Supermama can't even finish a sentence," the black man smirked with a shake of his head.

"Has anyone gone up and checked on Ella? You know see how she is?" Angel tried to divert the topic to the best of his ability. And it worked as well; both stopped their bickering momentarily and gave him their undivided attention, minus the sneers that Cordelia sent Gunn's direction when she thought he wasn't looking.

"Wonderchick?" Gunn asked with a shrug. "Keep on forgettin' that's her name. Yeah, Lorne went up a minute ago to check on her. You got to start payin' attention—"

"Ah! Peach blossom! Stop! Peach blossom!" they heard Lorne scream.

"What in the hell?" Gunn demanded, jumping to his feet. Wesley, with a book in and, and Fred, with a hand on Wesley's back, came out from hibernating in his office to investigate the commotion that was occurring. They all turned to see Lorne, Ella, and a flurry of white on the second floor landing. Lorne's arms were thrown up to protect his face from the onslaught as Ella battered him with a large pillow while her eyes were scrunched tightly closed. "Oh… okay… right…"

"Good God," Wesley's book fell to the floor along with the bottom of his jaw. "What in God's name is she doing?"

"Yeah!" Cordy hollered, punching the air with her fist. "You go girl! Beat that demon!"

"Cordelia," Angel touched her shoulder, a look of non-amusement on his solemn face. "That's Lorne."

"Oh…" the realization of who Lorne was suddenly seemed to dawn on her, slowly though. "Oh… oh… that's bad… that's real bad… _real_ bad…"

"A little help, Angel-face, might be nice!" Lorne begged and pleaded, cowering away from the furious pillow attack.

"You're evil!" Ella cried out in a shrill voice. "You're a demon! A demon!"

"Not all demons are evil, Peach blossom!" Lorne attempted to reason with her, dodging a hard blow. In the extra moment that Angel decided to watch, Ella grabbed an axe that hung on the wall next to her after she dropped the pillow. Angel's eyes opened wide and he shot up the stairs two at a time. Her back was turned to him when he reached the top of the landing. As she raised the axe in the air to strike down Lorne, Angel grasped her arm with one hand while his other arm wrapped around her waist and lifted her feet clear off the ground.

In an awkward and very uncomfortable kind of waddle, he brought her back inside her own room. With ease, he pulled the axe from her tight grip and dropped her to the edge of the bed. She stared up at him wide-eyed with teardrops clinging to her lashes.

"Okay, rule number one," he told her sternly, shifting the axe from hand to hand. "No killing Lorne."

"But he's a demon!" she protested in a whimper.

"Not all demons are evil," Angel informed her. "And Lorne is not evil. He's a friend. Anyone in this hotel is a friend—"

Even as the words escaped his mouth, a feeling of dread spread over him because of the shattering of windows he heard from the hotel lobby. Cordelia could be heard screaming in surprise and Gunn was shouting obscenities. Angel darted out of the room at a speed that Ella amazingly seemed to match for she refused to leave his side. From the landing he could see that the lobby was overrun with at least a dozen or so vampires and one or two demons. In all, it was a motley and vicious group that had come to visit them.

"What I wouldn't do for a normal night," he grumbled mostly to himself. Gunn had already begun the fighting as Cordy ran around the lobby, carefully dodging _evil creatures_ as she often called them, with a makeshift stake in her hand trying to rescue Gunn when she saw fit. Wesley and Fred took cover in his office, locking themselves in there seeing as how Fred was not great at fighting and Wes was still in recuperation from yesterday's accident. Lorne was nowhere to be seen but Angel thought he could sense him lingering nearby.

"Are they friends?" Ella asked tentatively.

"No. Feel free to kill them," Angel grunted while he broke the head off the axe, the blade falling to the floor. He thrust the wooden stake into her hands. "Protect yourself and stay up here. Try not to get into trouble, please."

She nodded shakily. Without another word, he launched himself over the rail of the landing and right into the heart of the battle.

* * *

Ella leaned over the railing, peering down closely at Angel. She loved watching the way he moved with an elegant grace despite the fact that he was fighting. It was like watching a professional dancer improvise a dance on spot with no music to dance to yet Angel seemed to dance with only danger being his only music. Already several spots of dust were piled on the floor where he had killed several vampires… well, _killed_ in the sense that he dusted them out of existence.

His friend, the man she thought was named Gunn, fought with just as much vigor but maybe a bit less. He wielded a sword and a crossbow in both his hands and when they didn't work, he resorted to using his hands or lashing out with his feet. It was in its own way an awe-inspiring performance. And Angel's brunette female friend, although she was not perhaps the greatest fight-or even a fighter at all- she was handy in killing a vampire or two when she let them get close enough.

Without thinking, Ella broke her stake in two and slipped one half into the pocket of Angel's large black sweatpants that he had lent her.

In matters of minutes, the small group had dusted all the vampires and had killed one demon… that left only one demon to kill. And that demon was nowhere to be found.

"Maybe he ran away," Angel's brunette friend offered.

"I don't think so," Gunn turned around in a slow circle while Angel stared up at the ceiling.

"No…" Angel said faintly. "He's in here… somewhere…"

Ella felt the demon's presence before she saw him and managed to duck large fists before they broke through her skull.

* * *

"Angel, you're girlfriend's got company!" Gunn shouted and pointed to the second landing where a blond threw herself to the ground as large fists shattered the railing where she had just been standing. Angel stood planted to the ground, watching with interests as the young woman rolled to one side and jumped to her feet. "Girl's got skill, man."

And it seemed odd to Angel that she did, too.

Ella threw herself out of the path of another destructive blow. The fists were coming far too close to her; Angel felt concern for her but also thought that perhaps she could win on her own. And he thought she would after he watched her grab a second large axe from the wall. Perhaps he would have to remove antique weapons from the wall but he would think about that later.

As the demon took another wide swing, Ella brought the axe down in a slow arch and watched with wide eyes as the demon's arms disconnected from his body, falling to the ground with an ugly spat. The demon howled in pain and Ella almost appeared to be encouraged… until the thing ran straight for her with a loud roar. Closing her eyes tightly, she swung the axe quickly and the roaring stopped as she beheaded the creature.

"Damn," Gunn drawled. "Girl's got skill. Girl's got a lot of skill."

"Or a lot of dumb luck," Cordelia blinked her eyes. Ella dropped the weapon to the floor and stumbled back several unsteady steps. "And she's also got company!"  
Angel dashed up the stairs the moment he saw another unwanted vampire grab Ella from behind, exposing her neck with pleasure.

"Don't move another step or I'll drain her dry," the vampire warned.

"Isn't that what you were going to do anyway?" Angel asked lightly despite the heaviness of the situation. As he spoke slowly, his eyebrows pushed forward and his eyes turned a feral gold. Long fangs grew in his mouth, which curled back in an unattractive smile after he saw the look of shock on the other vampire's face. "Wasn't what you were expecting?"

"You… you're a vampire…?" Ella looked repulsed.

"Don't talk!" the vampire that held her tight shouted in her ear. She made some sort of undistinguishable face and withdrew the stake from her pocket. In one swift moment, she lodged it in between the vampire's ribs. Moments later she felt wonderful release as the vampire turned to dust.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked quietly, his face sliding back to the angelic one she had been used to. Immediately she raised her stake toward him.

"You're one of them," she looked at him with terror in her eyes. "You're a vampire?"


	4. Family Lineage

**Chapter Four**

**Family Lineage**

"You're… a vampire… but you have… a soul?" Ella repeated for only the fourteenth time. Patiently as he stood staring down at her, Angel nodded slowly. "How did this happen again?"

"Oh, for God's sake, haven't you been listening?" Cordelia threw her hands up in the air after storming into the room uninvited.

"Apparently you have," the vampire gave her a small smile and gestured to the door with a firm nod. "If you will, Cordy."

"Is that your name?" Ella asked quietly. "Cordy?"

"It's short for Cordelia," the brunette offered with a shrug.

"I like it," she responded. "It's pretty and has a nice ring to it."

"It does, doesn't it," Angel agreed. Abruptly it hit him on what exactly he had said and he looked away quickly, gazing with keen interest at the carpeted floor. In the doorway, Cordelia gave Ella a large smile and turned a slight pink so fair that no one could even notice. The vampire coughed uncomfortably. "Uh, yes. Continuing. You wanted to know how _this_ happened? The soul?"

"Yes," Ella nodded like a bobble doll.

"Oh, honestly, that's simple," Cordy intervened. She sat down on the bed next to the blond and rushed forward into the story. "Really, it's so simple. He's lived for, like, two hundred and forty eight years—"

"Forty seven," Angel interrupted personally. "Only two hundred and forty seven."

"Whatever," the brunette rolled her eyes and returned to her story. "Darla, this vampire… you know, now that I think about it, would you call a female vampire a vampiress?"

"No, Cordy, you wouldn't," the vampire drawled. "The story, Cordelia, since you seem so intent on telling it."

"Oh, right. Anyway, over two hundred years ago, Darla sired Angel and he was the meanest vampire of all. I mean, like this guy killed _hundreds_ of people without batting an eye. Then one day he goes and kills this poor gypsy girl and her family gets really mad. So they curse him with a soul so he can feel guilty for the rest of his life… which would be for all eternity.

"And he feels really guilty because he remembers everyone he ever killed, which was a lot of people. So he secluded himself until he happened to come to Sunnydale a couple of years ago," Cordy told her.

"Um… Cordelia…" Angel tried to interrupt, really not wanting the story to go any farther. He felt that their guest didn't need to know that particular part of his life story.

"So, in Sunnydale he meets Buffy Summers. I'm a friend of hers," the brunette continued without faltering. "Well anyway, Buffy is the Slayer. I mean, there have been Slayers before her but she was _the_ Slayer, the Chosen One. And our Angel here falls in love with her. One night the two of them have sex and BOOM! There goes Angel's soul. Turns out he can't achieve 'perfect happiness' without losing his soul. Come on, right? I mean, what good is a guy who can't have sex at least every once in a while—"

"Cordelia…" Angel warned.

"Anyway, he goes all evil in Sunnydale but eventually he got his soul back and came here to L.A. and here he is today," Cordy finished with a firm nod to Angel before returning her attention to Ella. "Would you like to hear how he met me? It's an exciting story… perhaps not as exciting as how he met Fred and Lorne or even Wesley and Gunn, but it's still a good story."

"No, that's alright," Ella nodded slowly. "I get the gist of the story."

"And you're okay with everything?" Angel asked softly, his eyes boring intensely into her own. "You're not scared, are you, Ella?"

"Whoa… hold on," she held up a hand. "Did you just call me Ella?"

"That's your name, isn't it?" Cordy inquired, her eyes widening slightly.

"Where did you get that from? If I might ask," the blond stood up and moved across the room to the dark window, fingering the white drapes fondly.

"Your driver's license," the vampire responded.

"Oh," her face lit up in a small smile as though she understood completely what happened. Angel pulled her wallet out of his pocket and showed her the license, which sat in a clear pouch on the front. She walked to him and fingered it lovingly. "I understand now."

"Do you?" Cordelia demanded as her brows knit close together. "Because I sure don't."

"My name isn't Ella," she answered softly. "You see, I have a sister… had a twin sister. Her name was Isabella. Our mother was a strict Italian and never called my sister by her nickname of Ella but when Isabella went to get her driver's license, she… I guess the term is tweaked her name so that it would only read Ella."

"Had a twin sister?" Angel looked down into eyes that were filled with sudden lost. He could see just how lonely she really was and had been for such a long time.

"Yes, had," the girl replied. "She was slaughtered by a vampire several years ago. When she… left me, I felt as though I lost half of myself. I guess I keep her wallet with me at all times to help fill that hole. See, her eyes were green while mine are blue."

She showed the vampire the pictures. Sure enough, Isabella Winters' eyes were an emerald while the unnamed girl in front of him had blue eyes with stars of silver sprinkled in them.

"If you're not Ella…" Cordelia started slowly. "Then who are you?"

"My name is Rachele Winters but now I go by Rae," she offered with a sad smile. "It's funny how time changes people right."

"You said your sister was killed by a vampire," Angel changed the topic quickly. "Do you know the name of the vampire that killed your sister?"

"Yes," Rae responded with malice in her voice. She walked back to the window and stared out at the lights that shone into her room like a nightlight. "I even tried to stake her myself, really I did. I've only killed a vampire or two in my lifetime and I'm not really a great fighter, I'm not. Never really came in contact with demons before, either. But, God, how I really wanted to stake her but she left town before I even had the chance. I wouldn't know where to find her now even if I _did_ want to find her."

"Well, I'd want to find her if I were you," Cordelia snapped. "The vampire's a total bitch that's what she is. To do something like that to you."

"Cordy," Angel put a hand gently on her shoulder to restrain the brunette. "What was her name?"

There was a long pause and when Rae turned her attention to the vampire, her blue eyes were alight with blazing anger.

"Drusilla," the blond growled. "Her name was Drusilla."

"Oh… boy…" Cordelia muttered. "Angel, outside in the hall now." The brunette dragged the vampire out into the hall before he even had a chance to react. "Oh, don't worry. Make yourself comfortable, Rae, and we'll be only a minute."

* * *

"Oh, you and your vampire legacies," Cordelia grumbled as she pulled Angel a short ways down the hall so that the two would not be overheard.

"Is something wrong?" Angel demanded, crossing his arms over his chest as Cordy released her grip on him.

"Did you not hear what the poor girl just said?" she snapped.

"Yes," the vampire nodded. "I meant is something wrong other than finding out Drusilla killed her sister that was important enough for you to drag me out in and down the hall."

"Okay, maybe you don't get how humans work, Angel, but trust me I do. And this girl has 'if I find her sire, I'll kill that one too for making her' kind of vibe going on."

"And?"

"And I really, _really_ don't want to see you go to the stake… at least not when you're you, you know, good Angel out to save the world and all. Maybe if you were bad Angel then it'd be okay."

"Is there a point to all of this, Cordelia?"

"Yes, do not tell her you created that monster Drusilla, please! Can't you see the girl's suffered enough?"

"Yes, and you don't have to worry," he awkwardly patted her on the head before walking back to the room. He called over his shoulder, "I wasn't planning on telling her."

"That's my Angel," she smiled to herself. "Always coming to people's rescues and lying through his teeth if he sees fit. I think I like that perk!"

* * *

"Do you have someplace to stay? At least if just for the night?" Angel asked Rae as she properly hung her clothes to dry in the bathroom. "Perhaps a friend?"

"No one," the blond answered. "I just got into town tonight. Figures, huh? How I can't even stay out of trouble for even one night. I'm such a ditz."

"You are not," the vampire insisted. "Do you have any clothes or whatever? My seem a little…"

"Too big?" Rae finished for him. She pulled on the sides, which pulled out to fit almost another half of her. "Yeah, but my car is parked by the alley where everything happened tonight."

"Do you have the keys?"

"In my jean pocket."

"Give them to me. I'll have Gunn go and get your car. It really isn't that far from here. You can stay here for a couple of days or however long it takes for you to get on your feet."

She tossed him her car keys and he headed for the door. Once it was opened he turned back to her.

"Are you sure you're okay with staying here?" he asked genuinely.

"You mean with you being a…"

"Vampire?"

"Yeah, I think I'm okay," she responded quietly. "I've moved on from that point in my life. And you're not like other vampires, Angel."

"I've been told."

"You're special," she smiled shyly at him. "You help people and somehow… I don't think you can hurt me."  
"I'm glad you trust—"

"Besides," Rae added. "I really have no family left for you to kill if you did turn evil. I don't have any friends. I have no place to live, no job, no steady source of income. I have money but that's useless to a vampire, is it? No pets, either. I guess, I really have nothing in life to lose."

Somehow, leaving the room, his unbeating heart felt a lot heavier than when he had walked into it and he really didn't know how.


	5. Susie, Susie

**Chapter Five**

**Susie, Susie**

As was the "norm" in Angel Investigations, when Angel was away, the children would play… and when the vampire came down to the lobby, they certainly were.

"Do you always have to argue when I leave?" he asked, staring intently at Gunn and Cordelia, who were in a heated battle of wits.

"And if we do?" Cordy demanded, her hands on her hips.

"We have work to do," the boss told her quietly.

"Aw' right!" Gunn grabbed his axe from a table. "So what demons do we get to slay tonight?"

"As of now… none," Angel said. He jingled Rae's keys loudly. "Gunn, go down the street to the alley where we found Rae—"

"Rae?" Wesley looked up from his intellectual conversation with Fred. Gunn, Fred, and Wesley all watched Angel with keen interest and some curiosity. "I thought her name was Ella."

"Isabella Winters was my sister," the blond let him know from the second floor landing.

"Oh, my, I didn't see you up there," the Englishman apologized. "Was?"

"Yes, was," Rae smiled gently. "She was killed by a vampire several years ago. It… really… it's in the past now."

"Oh, dear…" Wesley looked away uncomfortably. The topic of victims slain by vampires was all too familiar with him as well as with everyone else in the room.

"I'm so sorry!" Fred exclaimed. "If there's anything… _anything_ I can do…"

"Really, honestly," Rae insisted. "It's all in the past now. I'm fine, really. But can I say the same for you… Wesley, isn't it?"

"What—"

"You were the one who was thrown through the second floor window last night, weren't you?" the blond inquired of the Englishman.

"Well, technically…" Wesley shifted uncomfortably and readjusted his glasses on his nose. "Yes, yes, I was."

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine, really I'm fine," he assured her. "Nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises… and a very sore back… and my shoulders are stiff."

"Can you walk upstairs?" she asked suddenly.

"Well, yes, I can," he looked up at her with mild confusion and Cordy held in a burst of laughter.

"Come upstairs," Rae smiled widely at him. "I'm good at giving massages, I can get the stiff out of those shoulders of yours in a jiffy."

"Really? That would be wonderful."

"Of course I can. Come on up. Angel's put me in room 210 for the moment anyway," she informed him and turned away from the landing.  
"Do you like tea?" Wes called after her.

"Who doesn't?"

"I'll bring the tea!" he told her brightly. "I'll bring the tea and you bring your hands… oh… yes, that really didn't come out right… I'm leaving now."

Cordelia burst into short fits of laughter as soon as the Englishman left the room to go fetch some tea. Gunn stared at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You really find that funny, don't you?" he asked the brunette.

"Yep!" Cordy nodded, her face alight with a warm smile and her hands clasped behind her back. She looked stunning in a printed yellow shirt and fashionable jeans, her long hair pulled back halfway.

"Now, see, I didn' really—"

"As I was saying," Angel interrupted Gunn quickly, knowing full well that he and Cordelia could go on for sometime. "Go down by the alley last night where we found Rae. Somewhere around there should be her car. Find it and park it in front of the hotel. Bring in whatever belongings she has and bring them up to her room."

"If I don't break up Englishman's love session when I come back," the black man muttered with a shake of his head. "What kind of car is it?"

"I don't know. Press the alarm button," Angel offered and tossed the keys to Gunn, who glared at the vampire.

"Do you realize how many parked cars there are between here and the next two streets, man?" he demanded. "It could be any of a hundred cars!"

"Have fun," the vampire said sincerely and crossed to behind the desk, where he reached into the refrigerator and came out with a sack of blood. "Gunn? Get going."

"I'm on it boss," Gunn growled and stormed out.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later found Gunn staring up and down the street by the alley for any car that might have lacked an owner for the night… and he wasn't having any luck. There weren't any rental cars between this street and the next so obviously she owned the car but that didn't help him any, either. He could take a car here or there off his list after their owners returned to them and drove away. He stared down in annoyance at keys in the palm of his hand.

"Here goes nothing," he sighed. Closing his eyes, he pressed the button. Seconds later he jumped as an alarm blared ungodly loud in the air, disturbing the general L.A. nightlife peace. This horn was so loud it could have awoken the dead… that is, if they weren't already awake to start with.

Gunn searched left and right until he saw a car's taillights flashing and his eyes brightened. He sauntered up to the car and pressed the panic button a second time, turning the alarm off. Longingly, his hand traveled over the fine exterior of wonderchick's car and he found himself thanking Angel for giving him this job.

"Come to papa, sweet thing, come to papa," he murmured. "I'm goin' to buy Angel the fattest, ripest pig I can find in L.A. for lettin' me drive this thing."

* * *

Gunn burst into Angel Investigations grinning from ear to ear despite the light load of suitcases he carried in from her car. He tossed them onto the floor and gave Angel a look that said, "Come here, big ol' vamp, I wanna hug you". The vampire closed his file and took a step back.

"She has the sweetest, coolest, hottest—"

"I get it, it's a good car," Angel nodded, his brow knit together some. He cringed at the look that Gunn still gave him.

"Are you kiddin' me?" he exclaimed. "She's got black Pontiac Firebird convertible out there! I can't believe I actually drove it!"

"It's good, then?"

"Good? Good?" Gunn demanded ludicrously. "Do you not know nothin' 'bout cars, man? She's got a sweet ride out there! And I got to drive it!"

"Alright, already," Cordelia simpered in irritation. "We get the point already. It's a sweet car. Bring her bags upstairs."

"Her and Englishman ain't up to nothin', are they?" Gunn asked with disgust. "'Cause if they are, I ain't goin' up there."

"No, her and _Englishman _are not up to anything," Wesley indignantly informed him, stepping out from his office. "She and I are perfectly through. She is a wonderful masseuse. You must have her give you a massage if you get the chance. She's simply wonderful."

"Hm," Angel forced a smile and walked away without a word.

"What's eatin' him?" Gunn questioned at the boss's curious behavior.

"He's not really that happy with her staying here," Cordelia told him quietly. "You see, her sister was killed by Drusilla and she wants to kill Drusilla so I think he's feeling guilty being he sired Drusilla and all."

"Right, he's screwed," the black man shrugged and picked up the bags again. "Well, on that happy note. I'm goin' upstairs to bring wonderchick her bags."

"I think she's in the shower," Wesley offered. "But she said she was leaving her door unlocked."

"Got it," Gunn nodded and trampled up the stairs with bags under his arms and feeling as if he had bags coming out of his ears. Sure they were light bags, but there were still a lot of them.

At her door, he managed to open the door and carelessly fumbled one bag onto her floor. From the bathroom, where the door was more than cracked open, he could see steam rising and heard her melodious singing come to an abrupt halt as she heard the crash of the bag.

"Hello? Is someone in here?" she called, her tone nervous.

"Uh, yeah," he responded. "It's me, Gunn, just droppin' off your bags for you."

"So I'm guessing you found Susie?" she asked conversationally over the sound of rushing water from the showerhead. He heard the shower stop and the sound of the shower curtain being pushed aside. From where he stood, his head cocked with interest, he could see a slender golden leg come to rest on the lid of the toilet as she dried it lazily.

"Su… Susie?" he stammered, attempting to control himself.

"Yes, my car."

"O… oh! That Susie! Boy, that Susie's a beauty out there," Gunn smiled to himself as he watched her towel off the other leg at the same slow, taunting rate. "I brought up all your bags for you. You want them any place special?"

"No, the floor's fine."

"Cool," he nodded, even though she couldn't see him but he could definitely see her. He leaned toward the bathroom a bit as he watched her slim curves be wrapped into a plush white towel courtesy of Angel. He knew he shouldn't be peeping in on her like he was… but he just couldn't help himself. "You have a trunk in your backseat of your car—"

"Leave it there!" she snapped quickly. "Don't touch it. No one is to touch that trunk, do you understand?"

"Yeah, I understand, wonderchick, I understand," he answered as he finally pulled himself out of the room before she could respond. Closing the door, he sighed to himself, "God, she is one hot mama!"


End file.
